Course Corrections Keep Direct Mail Pointing the Right Direction

When you’re on your next airplane trip, think about this: Over 90% of the flight is spent making in-flight course corrections. Those course corrections are what helps to ensure that when we leave Fargo on a flight bound for Chicago, we’ll actually end up in Chicago and not some corn field in Nebraska!

Just like a flight, design benefits from mid-course corrections too. To continue with the flight analogy, the ground crew spent a lot of time last year redesigning all direct mail packages from Marketing Ideas For Printers. The packages were all cleared for takeoff and are now “in the air.” That means there have recently been more opportunities for mid-course design corrections. After all, we want to make sure your direct mail subscriptions are all pointing in the right direction. We want to see these direct mail pieces land properly with you so that you can connect with your prospects and customers!

Survey Says

The trigger for our most recent mid-course corrections was the direct mail customer satisfaction survey. Each and every month, we follow up the delivery of the latest direct mail content from Marketing Ideas For Printers with that survey. We want you to know that when you submit those customer satisfaction surveys, we listen! We’re piloting this aircraft, but we’re keeping a keen ear open for what the people in the air traffic control tower are saying. (That’s you!)

In the recent feedback we received, there were a few items that stood out so clearly that we knew a quick course correction was needed. Here are the recent mid-course corrections that were made:

• All text for Business Form and Printer’s Press is again the tried-and-true 100% black and not the contemporary dark gray that originally appeared in the redesign.
• Starting with the June issue, the body copy text size will be larger. (It will be at a size that easily passes the bifocals test!)
• The redesigned FastStart has, at times, presented its lineup of printing products with a Business-To-Consumer (B2C) angle. The message of FastStart will now be focused exclusively on the Business-To-Business market. For instance, the April issue of FastStart featured invitations. The focus was originally on wedding invitations (B2C), but the package was reworked to provide an option to focus on corporate event invitations (B2B).

So you see, the survey responses you provide are a lot like the wind beneath the airplane’s wings. (That means that you, our direct mail subscribers, will never again hear Bette Midler sing Wind Beneath My Wings and not think of the direct mail followup surveys from Marketing Ideas For Printers!)